The Teen Brain

Can I just tell you how much I love teenagers?  I am student teaching at a high school and I thoroughly enjoy being around these young people, with their varied personalities, interests, challenges, goals, etc..  I obviously adore science, but these kids make my job so great I'd probably still like it even if I didn't get to teach about my favorite thing ever. I just wish they all knew how awesome they are and can be.

Adolescence is a really interesting conundrum in the development of a human being.  It's an exciting time that leads up to so many big life changes- getting through school, choosing a career, starting a family, making a place for oneself in the world.  So many physical changes are happening, not the least of which are the changes in the brain.  These changes make it both easier and more difficult for people to become responsible adults, which is one reason it is so incredibly fascinating, and makes me truly appreciate and empathize with teenagers that much more.

An explosion of brain development
It is well-known that humans go through an explosion of brain development during the first 3 years of life.  Infants and toddlers are actively exploring their worlds and making many connections in their brains.  But did you know this explosion also happens in adolescence?  And interestingly, an important part of this development is cutting away parts that are no longer needed.  This process is called "synaptic pruning".

Synaptic Pruning
This term refers to the "synapses" which are the connections between brain cells.  Cutting those away may seem counter-intuitive, but it is actually a wonderful part of developing a faster, more efficient brain.  It's a very exciting time for learning.
Here are some photographs taken through a microscope of brain cells at various ages.  Notice how there is an explosion of growth as the baby develops, and then as they become school-aged, things are pruned away while what's left becomes strengthened.

I have put in a couple of great video clips to explain this process.

Short, student-friendly explanation:



More detailed (fascinating!) info on synaptic pruning - TED talk by Sarah-Jayne Blakemore:




Prefrontal Cortex Development
If you watched that second video above, you heard a lot about how the adolescent prefrontal cortex is developing.  This area of the brain is very important for higher-order or "executive" functioning skills.  That includes things like planning, predicting consequences, impulse control, and personality.

So the interesting thing is.... this area of the brain is not fully developed in humans until around age 25!  Does the sometimes irrational behavior of teenagers make more sense given that information?  Teens are very prone to risk-taking, which makes sense given the fact that they are still learning how to control impulses, predict consequences, and make good decisions.  This lower impulse control can also be an amazingly good thing!  So many people have made amazing discoveries, inventions, etc. while in this stage of brain development, because they had all the drive to go for their goal, without their brains putting the brakes on.  So while impulse control is super important, sometimes it can be overdone and stifle creativity.  Without that fully in place, teens can do some amazing things - amazingly stupid or amazingly creative and exceptional!


Societal influences
So the conundrum I mentioned is that a teenager has this amazing brain with abilities and creativity, but heightened propensity toward risk taking and foolishness and less ability to control those impulses.  And yet this is a time period when people are expected to make really important decisions that will shape the rest of their lives.

It is also a time when many young people are filling those moldable brains of theirs with garbage!  Not just garbage that will prove pretty useless in the future, like Angry Birds and Candy Crush.  But garbage that is going to forever stunt their progress and could even ruin their lives. Alcohol, pornography, and drugs can wreak havoc on a developing brain and the person whose head it's in.  But those are the things that are exciting and new, and the teen hasn't yet developed full ability to put the brakes on.

That, however is NOT an excuse.  It is important for teenagers to realize the limitations of being a teenager and rely on advice of parents, guardians, teachers, and other trusted adults to help keep them safe.  It makes perfect sense that we strive to educate young people about staying away from risky things like drugs before they even get to be teenagers.  If a young person can decide while they are a child that they will say no to drugs, no questions asked...that choice has already been made and they won't have to grapple as hard with it later on.  They will also be helped by the added protection of choosing good friends who have also made similar choices for themselves.

So to wrap this up.... teenagers are awesome creatures.  They have a LOT of brain work to do, while working with a less developed instrument than those of adults.  They need good adults who will support and guide them.  Do what you can to help educate them, but above all, love them and cut them a little slack.

Learning Style

I promised I would post this so students can determine their learning style to help improve study strategies.
It's hard to find any one good test, so here are a few and you can see what meshes with you.

Separates into 3 categories, pretty short, 9 questions:
http://homeworktips.about.com/library/quizzes/bl_lstylequiz1.htm

Multiple Intelligences (longer survey, divides into about 6 categories)

http://www.edutopia.org/multiple-intelligences-learning-styles-quiz

This may be the best mix of simple, not too terribly long, and has 4 learning styles with some tips you can click on afterward:
http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=questionnaire

If I find any better ones I will add them.


Study Skills
Here is a survey about study skills.  I really love this one because when you are done, it gives lots of ideas and resources on how to improve in specific ways based on what your answers indicate you may need to work on.
http://www.angelo.edu/dept/aadvising/study_skills/

Physiology Tutoring

I love physiology.  I have been telling myself that for almost a year now. :)  It began as a positive affirmation in order to do better on the weekly quizzes and tests.  But it has also become an absolute truth.  I love learning about the human body and how it works.

Please see the following posts that are tagged as Physiology:
http://biogeonerd.blogspot.com/search/label/physiology

I love getting to tutor the subject and hope to be able to flesh out and add more Physiology posts as I have time. (Time has been very scarce this semester, so hopefully I can do this more in the near future, perhaps over Christmas break.)  Thanks for visiting!  Please comment!

Week 9 of Internship: Only 1 left! Can't I stay 10 more?

I had another fantastic meeting this week with one of my mentors/ exhibit team, Shawn.  Nancee and Mark were both gone.  Shawn really liked what I've been coming up with and said that I've exceeded their expectations.  Naturally that made me feel really good.
He also mentioned the online Free Choice Learning master's degree OSU offers and said this is the type of project it involves, and that I'm doing work just as good as those students.  Shawn mentioned this program several weeks ago and it started the wheels turning in my head.  I'm sure it will stay on my radar as I finish my undergrad and start teaching.
Ever since the meeting I have been hard at work putting together the exhibit proposal.  I've never done anything quite like this, so it's challenging to find the right format and way of doing it.  I'm seeking feedback and advice on it from some folks, so that will help me get it pulled together these last few days.

Saturday was an awesome day working in the Visitor Center to cover for Brian who accidentally signed up for 18 straight days of work (covering for others who had covered for him).  Holy cow, I love the VC!  I got to work at the tide pools and I really love to talk to people and teach them about all the echinoderms especially in that tank.  I love to show off the sea cucumber guts, and point out the sea stars' madroporites.  Perfect for a biology geek like me.
I also got to do Ocean Quest (yay) which I also love...perfect for a geology geek like me. :)  (See why I love it here so much?)

To top it all off, right after Ocean Quest, I was invited by the wonderful Harrison and Kristen (the aquarists) to join them and Diana to feed all the animals, because the volunteer feeder called in sick.  How fun!  Somehow I missed the part of someone asking me if I wanted gloves, so I had stinky hands for a while.  But I didn't care.  It was a cool new experience.  I even got to use the giant pole to feed fish and anemones in the global tank. Sweet.  Something new every day!

Feeding Rock Fish in the global tank

Today was my final shift as a Working Waterfront Docent at Port Dock 1 where the Sea Lions hang out.  For those who don't know, Working Waterfront was started by a group of organizations in Newport including the Port, HMSC, the aquarium, local merchants, and a foundation that has been formed to raise money to repair and replace the docks.  They trained a bunch of volunteer docents and have someone stationed down there 10-4 every day.

Here I am at Port Dock 1 in my lovely red docent jacket :)

California Sea Lion at Port Dock 1 in Newport today

It's been a fun adventure.  Today I tried something new at the end of my shift and actually announced a Sea Lion talk and then spoke to the whole group for a few minutes about the sea lions.  I think it went well, and then it led into tons of questions from people.  People don't seem to always know that I'm there to answer questions.  If I were going to be doing another shift, I think I would do this Sea Lion talk about every 15 minutes for the constant flow of new visitors, or just whenever there is a big crowd of people.


So, all that happened just since Friday!  Monday through Thursday of this week was my final vacation with my kids.  We had a blast visiting Crater Lake then heading to Crescent City California to see the redwoods and explore the coast one last time including the stretch from Crescent City to Bandon.  Over this summer we have explored the Oregon Coast from the southern end up to Tillamook (we had planned to go all the way up but ran out of time on that trip).  We've also gone to the west-most point in the state (Cape Blanco Lighthouse), and gone as far east as the Sheep Rock Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds.  Actually if you include the drive to get here from Utah, we've traveled the entire width of the state!  It has been a crazy fun time and I'm going to have a hard time leaving.
 

Wizard Island - here you can really see that it's a cinder cone

Pumice Rock (orange formation) and the colorful cliffs

"Phantom Ship" - an interesting ancient volcanic formation

Phantom Ship again with shimmering water

The Pinnacles- fossil fumaroles (volcanic gas vents)

More pinnacles

A newly created trail led to beautiful Plaikni Falls

The Fam

Redwood Tree in Crescent City, CA

So I actually didn't realize this was the final post for the internship folks... so I have to just say that this has been the most amazing experience, and I am grateful to have been a part of such a great program and to associate with amazing people.  Nancee, Shawn, Mark, McKenzie, Becca, Bill, Harrison, Kristen, the bookstore staff and all the VC volunteers, Chris Burns from Working Waterfronts, Eric and Sarah in Corvallis, and so many others, I can't name them all.  You have all made a huge impact on me and I will really miss being around such a dynamic crew.

I have also loved every chance I got to be around my fellow visitor center interns Brian, Diana, and Nick.  I hope we all stay in touch, I am excited to see what you all do in the future, cause you're so awesome!  Brian has so much knowledge and is so patient in sharing it with anyone.  I have picked his brain several times and he took the time to teach me the animals in the touch tank so I would feel more confident interpreting there.  Diana has that amazing announcer voice, and is so willing to jump in and help out and learn anything.  It's been fun to get to do stuff with her like learning to feed, and that unforgettable experience with Aurora the octopus!  Nick always makes me smile with his quirky and friendly personality.  Sometimes when I'm sick of being isolated in the library, I will visit the VC for some Nick-inspired laughs.  Thanks guys, it's been a blast!

Week 7 of Internship: Sea Lions, Octopuses, and Egg Cases - oh my!

At the beginning of last week I mapped out how I envision the exhibit and showed it to my mentor Nancee to make sure I'm on the right track.  She seemed to think I am which was encouraging probably for both of us.  That makes me feel much better about getting my final product done - the exhibit proposal.  But first, I still have some feedback to gather from people in the visitor center.

Here is the messy little sketch I made of how I imagine the kiosk interface for the interactive portion, which is going to be totally sweet:

So, I had to put my surveying on hold a little bit while I waited for some graphics I needed to be able to explain to people the exhibit so they could give me their opinion about it.  I do have what I need as of today and it's totally awesome and I tested it out a little today.  This week I will dive in with gusto to get the info I need to make my proposal.  I figured out that there are only 13 working days left- eek!  That makes me kinda nervous, but I'm sure I can get the things done that I need to, I just need to stay very focused.

Back to last week...I didn't just sit around and wait for graphics, I did all kinds of awesome stuff.

1- Sea Lions
I had the awesome chance to participate in a training to be a docent for the "working waterfront" project at Port Dock 1 over on the historic bay front.  There is a dock there that Sea Lions hang out on, no more than 20 feet below the pier!  (The dock is falling apart so a foundation has been set up to raise money to repair and replace it.)  So a group of organizations decided to put a docent out there 10-4 every day, and I signed up to help out with that once a week.
So I got to learn about sea lions, whales, seabirds, fishing boats, and more.  Friday afternoon and Saturday morning I did the very first shifts for this project.  In preparation I did this post on Sea Lions where I solidified my working knowledge of California Sea Lions.  Friday was super fun with 7 or 8 sea lions fighting for space on the dock and entertaining the heck out of us silly humans.

2- Octopus
I mentioned during my first week of training that the highlight was getting to touch the Giant Pacific Octopus in back.  Well, I got to do this again, but this time in front, after closing, for over an hour and a half!  And not only that... she showed us her beak!  Like 20 times!  After getting over the initial wonder and awe of it during which none of us had a camera but didn't want to leave to try to get one, McKenzie felt comfortable running off to grab the HMSC camera and her own phone so we could get some footage.  Click here for the amazing pictures and video to see for yourself!

3- Egg Case
Spring tides were this week, so I went out early with my roommate and we collected some great fossils and stuff, but the absolute highlight was finding an empty skate egg case!  I think it was from a Big Skate.  I have it in water and hoping to find a way to preserve it to save for my future classroom.  A tougher task than I realized.

Much more cool stuff happened this week and it has been really amazing and fun.  For instance, you can check out this post I started on the echinoderms in the touch tanks to help myself with interpreting there in the visitor center.  Naturally, I didn't finish them all or get to continue to do all the creatures in the tanks.  Things just happen so quickly around here I can't keep up with it all!
And speaking of not keeping up,  I must get back to work and pray that I have enough time to get everything done that I need to before it's time to go home!  :)

Week 3 - A Climate Change Enthusiast is Born

I can't believe it's been 3 weeks... time is flying, but at the same time I feel like I've been here longer.  It's probably because it's like living in a dream world where I'm surrounded by other science geeks, environment geeks, animals, volcanism, teaching and learning, kids, awesome elderly folks, amazing research and incredibly intelligent and talented people constantly.  Time seems to stand still as I cram my brain with cool new stuff!  I can hardly contain the geeking out that is welling up inside me!


I'm going to explain more about my climate change project.  The way in which the exhibit will relay the info is unique.  It will take input from the visitor and then give them personalized information that they are more likely to understand and be open to.  It follows the "Global Warming's Six Americas" study done by Yale in which the researchers wanted to find out what "camps" people fall into in relation to their views on climate change.  They found there were 6 distinct groups from alarmed to dismissive.  So this exhibit we will design is going to take input from the visitor and then give personalized information to them based on which of the 6 categories they fall into.  The wonderful Free Choice Learning folks will then use this to study how this type of personalization affects learning.

I'm excited about this because I think it's a wonderful way to approach the subject.  Climate change has become so political and polarized, so you really can't make a "one size fits all" message about it.  I think this type of exhibit will be much more effective at meeting each individual where they are.  In education we call it the "Zone of Proximal Development" - teaching something that is neither too basic nor too advanced for the student.

Here's a video that gives a quick overview of the Six Americas study if you want to know what the 6 groups are.

Education is power.  It moves us to action.  It causes us to share with others.  It opens our minds to new possibilities and ideas.  Could there be any greater work on this earth than to learn?  And blessed are the ones who find themselves in the position to walk along this journey of learning with those who are new to the path (this is sometimes known as "teaching").
My greatest joy is to see a person have an "aha" moment because something they are trying to figure out finally clicks.  Or to see a child get excited about something new.  (And almost everything is new to a child, which is why they are so fun to learn with.)  If only we all kept that childlike wonderment and curiosity about the world throughout our lives.

This week has been about the power of my education in climate change.  I'm more motivated to act and share with others.  Anyone who has read my earlier posts this week could see that.  Heck, I even emailed my mayor back home to encourage him to become more involved for our city!

I will end with a complete tangent: the Newport 4th of July fireworks were awesome!  Here's a sampling of photos:

And in typical Bio Geo Nerd fashion, everything cool should have some science connected to it... So, go to this site to learn how fireworks work! :)

Week 2 of Internship

This week I did quite a variety of things.  A lot of my time was spent in the library doing background research on climate change for my project.  I have watched many documentaries, read many articles, and gathered photos and videos.  There is a huge wealth of information out there and even after the many hours I spent this week, I have a lot more to go through.  I should stay just as busy next week.

Today I got to work in the visitor center to cover for another intern.  I love being around people and it was especially nice to get out of the library for a while.  I got to lead the estuary walk with 16 visitors.  A bunch of them were from Idaho very close to my home in Utah so it was nice to be able to relate to them in that way.  We talked about the estuary, salt-tolerant plants, and invasive species, dug up ghost shrimp and had a grand old time.

I also got to work with fellow intern Nick to gather data on the new Tsunami wave tank that will be open for the public sometime next week.  We ran a variety of scenarios with the tank, changing wave height, period, and number of waves, to find out which ones made water leave the tank too much so we could set some parameters for what settings the visitors will be able to play with that won't get water on the motors.

Splashing at the back of the wave tank- the motors are on top at the back

Nick tracking the data on his laptop

Setting up the victims...

And of course, a video of the cool tsunami wave:

When this exhibit opens, the visitors will be able to use the software to change the characteristics of the waves and then let it run to see what happens.  This will be an awesome tool for Free Choice Learning and will really encourage some great trial-and-error experimentation.  As you saw in the pictures and videos, we have legos and lincoln logs for people to build structures on the shore for the tsunami or other waves to interact with.  I can envision a long line of people waiting to play with this, I wonder how the crowd control is going to go.  I know there will be one of the interns stationed at the tanks so that will help with safety and order.  I think this exhibit is going to greatly increase the amount of time visitors spend in the VC.

Something I learned today is that kids are awesome!  There were a lot of teen and pre-teen boys in the estuary group today and they were very curious, asked a lot of great questions, and offered additional information that I didn't know.
Later in the VC while McKenzie was feeding the animals in the eye level tank in front of a group of visitors, a young boy came up and started adding great info about the rock fish because he had read about them.  He stood up there and rattled off a number of facts for a couple minutes while the crowd watched and the boy's parents were beaming with pride.

The picture's not great, sorry, but here is this awesome kid explaining about rock fish

So, when this boy made one comment about the rock fish, McKenzie was wise to ask him if he had more info about them he wanted to share, so he came up and told us a string of facts.  Beyond learning that kids are awesome, I have learned today to allow them to share what they know.  Doing "interpretive" work doesn't have to mean that whoever is leading it is in charge and is the source of all knowledge.  This is just like teaching.  Rather than my students coming in, sitting down, and partaking of the knowledge I spew at them, I want to have a "community of learners", in which I am one of the learners right along with the students.  Today proved to solidify this desire and belief for me- there is a great deal I can learn from others, no matter their age.  I am merely the one to provide the opportunities and act as facilitator.

The last thing I want to talk about from this week was that I attended a seminar yesterday given by Katie who is a graduate student here working on Free Choice Learning.  She explained to everyone (all the REU interns were there in addition to other folks) about Free Choice Learning and the projects going on including the wave tank and climate change exhibits and how we'll be using those to study how people learn.  The visitor center has cameras all over and we'll be able to observe and collect data on what exhibits visitors go to, how long they spend, what things interest them, etc.  I say "we" but really I'm not sure if I'll get to participate in that, although I think it would be pretty sweet.  I love all the stuff going on here and the people I'm getting to meet and associate with.  I'm so happy to be here!

Women, Girls, Society, and Science

Girls Conference

On the 3rd of this month, I volunteered at the Expand Your Horizons (EYH) conference put on by the Equity in Education Center at UVU. It's for 6th to 12th grade girls and the purpose is to help them explore high-paying careers in math, science, and technology.  Can I just say...wahoo!!  I wish I'd been able to go to a conference like that when I was in Jr. High or High School. Maybe I wouldn't be 31 and still in college.

For me, and I suppose for many girls growing up now here in "Happy Valley", being raised in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (that's LDS or "Mormons" for those not familiar with it), the role of wife and mother is emphasized.  The Church places a high value on family, which is fantastic.  But it also sometimes has the side effect (at least in this area) of girls not really planning seriously for any kind of career, because they plan to be stay-at-home moms.  That is even despite the fact that our prophet Thomas S. Monson, and the previous prophet Gordon B. Hinckley both specifically encouraged women to get as much education as they can.

I found this blog - EmpoweringLDSwomen.blogspot.com which has some great quotes from Church leaders about stay-at-home-moms as well as getting education and developing talents.  As a single mom myself and a huge proponent of education, I love the balance and I agree that women need to get educated and even obtain a college degree that could open the door to a career.  I don't believe a career should ever supersede motherhood, no way.  But an educated mother raises educated children, for one thing, and as we have all become very aware of in our current economical situation, it's extremely helpful if the wife is able to help earn an income if the husband gets laid off, becomes disabled or passes away, or in the event of a divorce.

Here is just one of the great quotes from Church leaders:

Sisters, find some time for yourself to cultivate your gifts and interests. Pick one or two things that you would like to learn or do that will enrich your life, and make time for them. Water cannot be drawn from an empty well, and if you are not setting aside a little time for what replenishes you, you will have less and less to give to others, even to your children.

Barbie "I Can Be..."

And can I just comment on what I happened to see on the girls' toy aisle the other day (I was going down every aisle looking for a stuffed animal moose for a friend).  I stopped when I saw a couple of Barbies saying, "I can be....[insert career here]"  Okay so now Mattel is going to tell all the girls in the world what jobs they can do?  That's my first problem with this - what if something they're interested in isn't on the list and therefore isn't cool or beautiful like Barbie is?  Will they abandon it and go for one that IS on the list?

My second problem was the options there at the toy store - Pet Vet, Teacher, Art Teacher, Preschool Teacher, Ballet Dancer, and "Kid Doctor".  Okay at least they had a doctor, but why can't you actually call her a Pediatrician?  Teach the girls some vocabulary for heaven's sake!  They've probably all been to a Pediatrician, it's not that far-fetched that they know what they're called.  Must we continue dumbing everything down?  And does Barbie HAVE to be wearing high heals and a dress only slightly longer than the lab coat (mid thigh)?  Seriously, what doctor do you know that would dress like that?

The Barbie website has some information on each of the professions complete with a couple of videos and games.  I cannot believe this game I just played for the "Babysitter" job.  You have to guide the little kid around the house and move toys out of her way so that she doesn't have an accident on the way to the potty.  When she makes it there you see her sitting on the potty, hear a distinct plop and the girl grins, and they show the toilet flushing with yellow and yes a little brown circle in there swirling around.  Holy heck!  Are you serious?

They do have more professions that just weren't on the shelves where I went, but they still have a pretty limited scope: lifeguard, snowboarder, baby doctor, zoo doctor, rock star, cooking teacher, fashion designer, track champion, tennis champion, gymnastics champion, chef, movie star, and my favorite - bride.

Girls aspire to be "brides".  But are they ready for the title that comes next - "wife"?  Or did they spend all their time planning for the wedding instead of the marriage?

The only non-traditional things are race car driver and architect.  The website showed a software engineer, but I haven't seen the actual toy of that anywhere. 

Anyone notice the trend?  Girly stuff involves either: being famous and adored by all (rock star, sports champions, movie star), cooking, or liking "cute" stuff like kitties and babies.  Don't get me wrong, I love cooking, animals and babies.  But I also love seeing cells in various stages of mitosis under a microscope, collecting Brine Shrimp eggs, taking way too many pictures of rocks, and cutting things open to see what's inside.

So, Barbie's at it again...  shaping our society.  Thanks, but no thanks, Barbie.

A Different Kind of Barbie
Speaking of Barbie, I went to this way cool seminar at the beginning of the semester by this awesome lady scientist who does a lot of work in the rainforest, and she has many non-profit projects she does to educate people about the rainforest.  She uses rock climbing techniques to study the canopy of the rainforest.  They actually created a "Tree Top Barbie" with her all decked out in her gear to climb to the top of the canopy, and she kind of joked that she was surprised that Mattell was not interested in it.  I think it's sad though, it's cool stuff like that they should promote in addition to Ballerina, Art Teacher, and Babysitter. Broaden the horizons of girls.

That brings me full circle back to Expand Your Horizons.  It's wonderful that they do this conference.  I only wish it would reach more girls out there.  The battle field is probably a lot younger than we think.  Girls in Elementary school have already been brainwashed that they need to be pretty to be worth anything, they can't "get" math and science, and they're only supposed to like things that are small, fuzzy, and/or pink.

Well, I've got one for you, girls:

A curious symbiotic relationship between an animal and algae - hungry corral polyps grasping for dinner
More importantly: AMAZING and BEAUTIFUL -  just like you.  (Source)

Global Objective

In my Curriculum class today we discussed what our "global objective" is - the motivation for wanting to be a teacher and being willing to put up with all the crap of teaching (bratty kids, discipline issues, annoying parents, politics, crappy pay, etc).

So, my global objective is curiosity.

I want to help my students be curious about the world around them.  I want to teach them to ask questions and to know how to explore (and sometimes find) answers.  The world is too dang amazing to go through it without ever noticing the awe to be found in insects, birds, plants, animals, oceans, water, mountains, a sunset, or the stars.  I want to help my students learn to notice things and start to wonder about what they see- how did it get that way?  Where did it come from?  Why is it behaving that way?  What will happen in the future to it?  What will happen / how will it respond if ____ changes?  How does this affect other things in the environment?  Etc...

There's so much to learn and explore, and I hope to make a difference in the lives of some students to instill in them the desire to seek out that learning and exploration.  And the rest of them I hope will at least realize that science is NOT boring or hard, and they are all capable of succeeding.

And the other motive of a person who has little kids and loves to travel...summers off. :)

Teaching

So apparently I like being around any age of people.  I've worked with infants, toddlers, preschoolers, Kindergarteners, 1st graders, 5th and 6th graders, Jr. High kids, High School sophomores, and adults.  Obviously I've chosen Secondary Education so that narrows it to 7th through 12th grade.  I'm just not sure if I should focus on Junior High or High School for teaching.  Of course I'll end up where the jobs are available, and I'll be licensed to teach any of them.  But I'd like to figure out a focus so as I'm creating lesson plans, assessments, etc, I know which Core Curriculum to base it all on.
I'm volunteering right now with 10th graders and so far I like them.  I did a little volunteering at a summer camp last year with Junior High age kids and I liked them too.  Just need to get more exposures I guess, and practice with actually teaching them myself.  I did a little bit of that with the summer camp - I led a couple of the activities which I had created.  But that was very limited and in a very different setting than a public school.

2012

MY mountain. :)

My goals for the new year:

• Hike Mount Timpanogos
• Train for a sprint triathlon to race in 2013 (300 meter swim, 12 mile bike, 3 mile run)
• Raise my GPA (current 3.42 – get closer to 3.75)
• Teach my 4-year-old to read
• Read the entire Book of Mormon
• Try snowshoeing
• Camp in the winter time with our new sleeping bags
• Ice skate
• Volunteer with teenagers and decide whether to teach Jr. High or High School
• Successfully complete savings matching program (plus one more payment)
• Expand Baby Care Cupboard (maybe)
 

The past couple of years I have chosen only a small number of goals that I felt were reachable by summer and that I pretty much had planned to do anyway.  It's very fulfilling to be able to say that I actually completed all my goals for the year.  Not like all those decades I spent making a New Year's goal to become thin and have my life turn around to complete perfection, and end up not meeting a single one of my unreasonable goals.  I do have some big goals this year but I think they're all reachable.  The only one I'm worried about is the mountain - still don't know who will go with me, who to train with, or if I'll be able to get into good enough shape in time to go this year.  If not, I'll continue training and hike it next year!

Teaching in Utah

So, I'm getting a degree in Biology Education as well as an endorsement in Environmental Science (which allows me to teach all the Earth Science stuff as well).  I figured I could make a comfortable living as a teacher since it's just myself and two kids to provide for.  Think again I guess.  I just looked it up and the salary for where I want to teach is only $32,000 a year for the first year.  Ick.  I figured I need to make at least $36,000 to be comfortable.  Not even super comfortable like owning a home and stuff, I'd still have to rent.  But I could pay all my bills and have some money for incidental expenses and savings, so it would be sufficient for my needs without any government help.  I guess "self-sufficient" is a more accurate term instead of "comfortable".

So I guess I will have to get a summer job to make up the difference or work something part-time during the school year until I have worked enough years to get a liveable wage.  This is what I get for being in Utah - the state with the lowest teacher salaries in the country.  If it weren't for my family and the amazing mountains and canyons, I'd be so out of here...


He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.
Proverbs 10:4
diligent: characterized by steady, earnest, and energetic effort (m-w.com)